Alaska
News, analysis, and opinion about K-12 education in Alaska
States
From Our Research Center
State Grades on School Finance: 2021 Map and Rankings
Examine the grades and scores that states and the nation earned on school finance, along with how they scored on a host of indicators.
Education Funding
From Our Research Center
Nation Earns a 'C' on School Finance, Reflecting Inconsistency in K-12 Funding and Equity
The Edweek Research Center's latest analysis finds a gulf in many states between per-pupil spending and how that K-12 money goes out.
Teaching Profession
Teacher Salaries Are Increasing. See How Your State Compares
The National Education Association warns that some of the progress in teacher pay could be jeopardized by the pandemic.
School & District Management
How School Districts Can Run a COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic
As pressure builds to reopen schools, some districts want to administer vaccines. The school district in Anchorage, Alaska, offers a guide.
States
From Our Research Center
State and National Highlights Reports (Quality Counts 2021)
The Quality Counts 2021 State Highlights Reports capture the key data you need to assess your state’s performance.
Student Well-Being
Fewer Kids, Less Money: How the Pandemic Puts Districts in a Bind
Enrollment snags, head-count problems, and more home schooling could end up costing districts millions in funding based on the annual tally of how many students actually show up.
School & District Management
Project
An Alaskan Village's Long Wait for a New School
Rural schools struggle to maintain adequate buildings, but the quest for a new school has been fraught for this remote Old Believer village.
States
From Our Research Center
Educational Opportunities and Performance in Alaska
This Quality Counts 2020 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.
Classroom Technology
Troubleshooting Tech Realities in Rural Schools
Internet connectivity, recruiting staff, and finding partners to learn from are all big challenges for an ed-tech leader in a district off the coast of Alaska.
Recruitment & Retention
Project
A Perennial Challenge in Rural Alaska: Getting and Keeping Teachers
Recruiters are offering bonuses, free housing, and airfare to entice teachers to their remote districts—and competition is about to worsen.
Equity & Diversity
Project
On the Snowy Tundra, Alaska Students Bridge Differences and Eat Moose Snout
An Alaskan high school exchange program works to promote understanding between the state's urban centers and its remote Native Villages.
Equity & Diversity
Interactive
Alaska: A Brief History of the State and Its Schools
Alaskan schooling developed on many fronts. An illustrated timeline adds historical context for the growth of the state's education system.
School & District Management
Video
‘Just Like Them’: Urban and Rural Students Make Friends on the Alaska Frontier
An unusual exchange program in Alaska pairs students from urban high schools with sister schools in some of the most remote parts of the 49th state. In April, four Anchorage students and their teacher made the trip to a Native Village in Scammon Bay. See what they learned about subsistence living, the environment, Yup’ik culture, and making connections with peers from a different culture and geographic region. July 21, 2019.
Education
Alaska Governor, a Career Educator, Proposes a Slash and Burn K-12 Budget
Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who spent his career as a teacher, principal and superintendent of a rural Alaska district wants to now cut more than a third of the state's K-12 spending.